XO, Kitty – ACE Entertainment / Netflix
After a romantic rollercoaster in South Korea, Kitty is returning to America, or is she? That’s what XO, Kitty fans, or hoping to learn from a second season that Netflix officially confirmed over the summer of 2023. After a long wait, production got underway in April and has just wrapped up as of June 2024. Here’s everything we know about the upcoming second season.
Let’s quickly recap: XO, Kitty is a Netflix Original romantic comedy series created, written, and produced by Jenny Han. It is a spin-off of the popular To All the Boys film franchise which had three movies on Netflix.
The series is based on teen matchmaker Kitty Song Covey, who thinks she knows everything there is to know about love. But when she moves halfway across the world to reunite with her long-distance boyfriend, she’ll soon realize that relationships are much more complicated when it’s your heart on the line.
XO, Kitty Season 2 Netflix Renewal Status
Just under a month after the series premiered, Netflix officially confirmed on May 18th, 2023, that the show would be returning, and it came as no surprise given its viewing stats.
The announcement came with a short video featuring Anna Cathcart (and a few other members of the cast) holding up a sign that the show had been renewed:
XO Kitty renewal sign
Jenny Han is confirmed to return as showrunner for the new season alongside Sascha G. Rothchild with both also serving as executive producers. Hanna Stanbridge, Chris Martin, and Emily Kim serve as staff writers on the new season.
We can also reveal that Anna Mastro is set to direct on this season of the show.
As the first spin-off show of one of its popular film franchises, it would always be interesting to see how XO, Kitty performs over the first few weeks, especially given the gap from To All The Boys – Always and Forever, released in February 2021.
Netflix measures all of the analytics related to the series, such as weekly hourly viewing data, the percentage of subscribers starting and finishing the show, and more. We’ve covered how Netflix decides whether to renew or cancel a show here.
How well did XO, Kitty perform on Netflix?
Judging the performance of the show’s first four days and XO, Kitty has gotten off to a strong start on Netflix with 72,080,000 hours viewed. If it wasn’t for the success of Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Series, then XO, Kitty would be top.
Let’s begin with the Netflix hourly numbers for XO, Kitty. Every week on Tuesday, Netflix unveils its top 40 shows and movies broken down into English and non-English language categories. In total, the show featured in the top 10s for four weeks picking up 180.15 million hours watched globally.
Here’s how that breaks down week-to-week:
| Week Period | Hours Viewed(M) | Rank | Week in Top 10 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 14th, 2023 to May 21st, 2023 | 72,080,000 | 2 | 1 |
| May 21st, 2023 to May 28th, 2023 | 63,780,000 (-12%) | 2 | 2 |
| May 28th, 2023 to June 4th, 2023 | 29,830,000 (-53%) | 3 | 3 |
| June 4th, 2023 to June 11th, 2023 | 14,460,000 (-52%) | 8 | 4 |
As you can see, the show put in a strong first week and even second weekend but notably dropped over 50% between weeks 2 and 3.
If we look at that number with the CVE metric (Completed Viewing Equivalent = taking the runtime of the show and divide by the number of reported hours) we can do an apples-to-apples(ish) comparison of how well the show has performed against other big Netflix shows in 2023:
As you can see, XO, Kitty is was one of the better performing shows in 2023, pulling in a better CVE than That ’90s Show and The Diplomat, which were both renewed.
When we add it all up, we can see that XO, Kitty was a prime candidate for more, especially since it has a smaller budget compared to other renewed shows.
What to Expect from XO, Kitty Season 2?
Kitty has a lot on her plate heading into the second season.
Kitty x Yuri
After going to Korea to be closer to her long-distance boyfriend Dae, Kitty finds herself with feelings for somebody else, Yuri, by the end of the season.
However, before Kitty has the opportunity to reveal her feelings for Yuri, she is interrupted by the appearance of Juliana, the girl Yuri is in love with. Rather than confessing her feelings, Kitty boards her plane back to the US.
With her expulsion from KISS, Kitty believes she will never see Yuri again. Little does she know that Yuri is trying to convince her mother, Jina, to reinstate her. If Kitty is allowed to return to KISS, she will be reunited with Yuri.
Picture: Gia Kim (left) and Anna Cathcart (right) – ACE Entertainment / Netflix
Min Ho x Kitty
When Kitty boards her plane, she is surprised to find Min Ho on the same flight. Learning from Kitty that she and Dae are no longer together, and that Kitty is returning to America, the young man has nothing to lose and confesses his own feelings for her.
Kitty has feelings for Yuri, and she just broke up with Dae, so even if she returns to KISS, it’s unlikely she’ll reciprocate Min Ho’s feelings.
Picture: Sang Heon Lee (left) and Anna Cathcart (right) – ACE Entertainment / Netflix
Who is Simon?
Jina gives Kitty a letter that her mom, Eve, had written for her. After reading the letter, Kitty discovers the name of the mysterious Simon, her mother’s potential first love.
Expect Kitty to go back to Jina and question her about “Simon” and Jina’s friendship with her mother.
Will Dae Lose His Place at KISS?
Dae’s scholarship relies heavily on his performance at school, and he is expected to be the top-performing student. However, thanks to Florian cheating on his exams, Dae loses the top rank. Unless Florian is caught, or Dae can improve his grades to perfect levels, Dae’s scholarship at KISS is under serious threat.
Picture: Anna Cathcart (left) and Minyeing Choi (right) – ACE Entertainment / Netflix
New Cast Members for XO, Kitty Season 2
In February 2024, we revealed that Netflix was on the lookout for three new cast members for the upcoming season.
- Sophie – New series regular – Korean American teen girl from Ohio – Last-minute transfer on an exchange program through her Korean church.
- Mr. Choi – New series regular for season 2 – Big talent manager funding a new arts program at K.I.S.S. – Described as handsome, charming, and a narcissist – Known to be a ladies’ man
- Young – Recurring guest star – Vying to become captain of the track team in season 2 – Naturally competitive and described as Queer – serves as a main rival to one of the main protagonists.
While we don’t think those cast members have been announced just yet, the Hollywood trades did announce three new cast members for the new season:
- Audrey Huynh (ANZBBGRL, Wyrm) has joined as a new series regular called Stella
- Sasha Bhasin (Brave the Dark) will recur as Preveena
- Joshua Lee (Gangnam Project) will also recur as Jin
Pictures via Getty Images
When could we expect to see a second season of XO, Kitty on Netflix? Where is Season 2 in Production?
Filming for the first season occurred between March 28th, 2022, and June 7th, 2022. That means between the start of filming and the show being released was a period of fourteen months.
Now, sadly, despite an early renewal. No work is currently taking place on the show, given it’s covered by both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA. As you may know, the former has been striking since May 2023 and the latter since July 2023. XO, Kitty was among the dozens of projects currently on hold at Netflix due to the ongoing strikes.
On April 25th, 2024 – Netflix and the trades confirmed that production had started on the new season of the show.
On June 26th, 2024 – Netflix’s Golden account confirmed that filming had wrapped on season 2.
Netflix didn’t include XO, Kitty in its 2024 roster at the Next on Netflix event in February 2024 or in a revised lineup teased during the Netflix Upfronts in May 2024.
That means we expect the 10-episode second season to debut sometime in 2025.
Note: Contains contributions from Kasey Moore.
Are you looking forward to the second season of XO, Kitty on Netflix? Let us know in the comments below!